Saturday, October 27, 2007

Gil, Save Your Hot Air

As the wildfires of Southern California blazed away, we caught our collective breath; thousands of homes destroyed, half a million people evacuated, hundreds of thousands of acres scorched. It was destruction on an almost unprecedented level even in a region where wildfires are common, a normal part of nature.

“Damage from wildfires ravaging California this week highlight a recent trend--in the past few decades, there has been a clear tendency for increased property loss due to wildfires,” said Mr. Daraskevich of AIR. “This is a direct consequence of rapid construction growth in the wildland-urban interface—a region where primitive, undeveloped forest meets urban expansion. Losses from this week's wildfires, in the luxurious Malibu community in particular, are likely to reflect this trend.”